For the Yankees, an interesting position: Aspiring to be like the Red Sox

APJorge Posada, Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano congratulate one another aftering winning Game 5 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday. They still trail the Rangers in the series, 3-2.

Perhaps an L.L. Cool J quote summarizes the Yankees' Game 5 win in the American League Championship Series: "Don't call it a comeback. I've been here for years."

That's the attitude they must carry with them tonight as they square off again with the Texas Rangers, who still lead their series, 3-2. With one more weak showing from their offense, botched performance out of their bullpen or fluky play, the Yankees are going home, and the 90-win Rangers will instead represent the AL in the World Series.

The deliciously ironic part of all this is that the Yankees can now use the recent playoff history of the Boston Red Sox to prop themselves up. It is New York's arch-rival, after all, that managed to of the greatest postseason comebacks in recent years.

The first, the systematic dismantling of the 2004 Yankees after they went ahead of the Red Sox 3-0 in the ALCS, will live on forever. The emotional outpouring that ESPN's "Four Days in October" received this month is only the latest reminder of that.

Mathematically, the second great resurrection -- Boston's 2007 ALCS comeback after falling behind 3-1 to the Cleveland Indians -- more closely resembles the Yankees' current predicament. They must win three games before the Rangers win one, and they must do it while facing Texas ace Cliff Lee one more time.

It takes a special kind of team to pull that kind of comeback off, though, and one with pitching that comes through. In Game 6 of the 2007 ALCS, the Sox received seven strong innings of two-run ball from Curt Schilling, enabling the Sox to save their then-stellar bullpen for four innings in a Game 7 win.